Home

The Cigar Factory tells the story of two devoutly Catholic families — the white McGonegals and the African American Ravenels — who lived in Charleston, South Carolina during the world wars. Author Michele Moore follows the parallel lives of family matriarchs working on segregated floors of the massive Charleston cigar factory, where white and black workers remain divided and misinformed about the duties and treatment each group receives.

Cassie McGonegal and her niece Brigid work upstairs in the factory, rolling cigars by hand. Meliah Amey Ravenel works in the basement, where she stems the tobacco. While both white and black workers suffer in the harsh working conditions of the factory and both endure the sexual harassment of the foremen, segregation keeps them from recognizing their common plight until the Tobacco Workers Strike of 1945.

PHOTO: From Sounds of the Cigar Factory, performed during Charleston's Piccolo Spoletto Festival